We started looking at our own community and found out that we really didn’t know of a lot of local businesses or what is available locally in Calgary. We enlisted the help of a few local business owners, and invited in guests from Leaf Ninjas, Slow Food Calgary, Calgary Farmer’s Market and a few parents in our school community who run small businesses to share their perspectives.
We discovered that City of Calgary is designing communities around the idea of living locally and we wanted kids to see that first hand. We took our classes on a trip to the East Village, where we met with local artist Daniel Kirk and heard about his work there, and then ventured to Inglewood, where we supported local businesses during our trip.
Our students reflected on the unique features of these communities and their commitment to living locally. Despite our habits, this trip opened all of our eyes to the fact that as consumers we always have a choice.
Megan Liddell and Lisa Taylor teach Grade 5 Humanities at Twelve Mile Coulee as a jobshare team. They are both working on completing their Master's and enjoy spending time at home with their young children.